1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to safety clips or pins and, more particularly, to a safety clip for preventing accidental detonation of an ordnance munition device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most ordnance munition devices require a safety clip or safety pin of some sort which prevents accidental detonation of the device and which is manually or remotely removed prior to its final use. One well recognized such use is the safety pin on a standard hand grenade. More sophisticated, aircraft delivered type weapons have "remove before flight" pins which are structurally similar to the hand grenade pins, but which are removed remotely by means of an arming wire connected to an electrical solenoid.
The standard type of hand grenade safety pin comprises a cotter pin of relatively soft, ductile material which is bent after insertion through a fixed flange on the grenade's dentonator assembly. It is then rebent back into a straight position during withdrawal from the flange. Thus, the force required to remove the pin includes both an axial component for overcoming the friction exerted by the flange on the pin and a bending component for straightening the pin.
Other types of safety clips have been used which resemble conventional clothing type safety pins having one straight, free end and some type of catch means at the other end for retaining the straight end in a locked position. The force required to remove this type of clip includes both a squeezing component for releasing the straight end from the catch means and an axial component for overcoming friction.
The conventional cotter and clothing type safety pins suffer from a number of drawbacks. One drawback is that the metals typically used in such pins are often unable to withstand the rough, and sometimes careless handling and large variety of high impact forces to which munition devices are subjected during combat or training situations. The inherent weakness of the metals is compounded still farther by the bending stresses and deformation which are introduced while latching the pin in the device. Thus, the pins are prone to breaking and other types of failure, which can cause a munitions device to become inoperative or to detonate prematurely.
Another drawback of prior art safety pins or clips is that the amount of force required to withdraw the pins tends to vary widely from case to case. Two pins which are identical in structure, dimension, and materials may still require different removal forces due to such factors as differences in the bending stresses and the amount of permanent deformation which was introduced during latching, and the number of times which the pins may have been reused during training exercises. This lack of reproducibility of results is undesirable, since any deviation from normal could result in the pin releasing too soon or not releasing at all, which would in either case lead to hazardous conditions. Reproducibility is also important in the case of electrically armed devices since excessive dynamic loads on the arming wire can result in damage to the arming solenoid.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved ordnance munition safety clip which overcomes some of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art.